correction
A previous version of this article described the song "Wooden Ships" as reflective of a "wistful California optimism." The song has often been interpreted as a commentary on life after a nuclear holocaust. This version has been corrected.
David Crosby, a singer-songwriter who helped define the sound of the Woodstock generation as a key member of the 1960s and ’70s bands the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, but whose wanton drug abuse made him a cautionary symbol of the era’s culture of excess, has died at 81.
A former publicist, citing family members, confirmed the death. No further details were immediately available, but Mr. Crosby had a history of hepatitis, diabetes, heart ailments and other problems.
